Thank you so much for thinking about me, my dear! I am standing upside down. Or for my Australian friends: Downside up!

This video was taken one year ago. And as you just learned from it, I had big plans … Do you want to know how it turned out?

Let’s see what happened:

• In April I partied a couple of nights in Kuta, Bali.
• Then I started my sleep experiment and traveled to Gili Air.
• After returning back to Bali my friend Yulisa visited me in Pererenan.
• In May I went for another trip to the Gilis, this time to Gili Meno with a short visit on Gili Trawangan and a scooter ride around Lombok.
• Later in May, I went to Java to climb Mt. Ijen.
• I participated in a one-week seminar to learn Balinese massage.
• And I climbed with a friend into a canyon to see a waterfall and have a refreshing dip in the white water below it.
• I applied for my working visa in Indonesia. And in June I traveled to Kuala Lumpur in Malasia to pick up the visa at Indonesian embassy and visited Melaka.
• During a morning beach walk, I found the new Udara Yoga Resort at Seseh beach. Which I checked out on the next Sunday morning. And I loved it. Especially the vegetarian brunch blew my mind! Since that Sunday morning, you can find me almost every Sunday morning there.
• I started listening to the audiobook The Road Less Stupid and thinking time became a daily habit. And I became a real fan of the author. I heard rumors that he is the blueprint for Rich Dad from the book Rich Dad Poor Dad from Robert Kiosaki.
• Planning, organizing and Marketing the 24th Musician Day at Rooms4Music kept me quite busy in June.
• In July I took a trip to Jakarta, Java.
• After coming back to Bali, I had my worst hairdresser experience ever. I ended up bold due to a communication problem. So I decided to learn Indonesian.
• Mid of July I flew via Katar to Germany and visited the impressive city of Doha.
• At the arrival in Frankfurt and I wanted to pick up my rental car. Buchbinder car rental required a credit card with a PIN for the deposit. I had no PIN for my credit card. No signs by name, no EC card, no cash, not a quick money transfer, nor a credit card from a friend with another name on it was possible. So I did not get the car nor a refund. Stubborn heads!
• We had the Musician Day in Stuttgart at Rooms4Music. But the number of participants was disappointing inadequate.
• I went for my yearly health check at the Deutsches Zentrum für Individualisierte Prävention und Leistungsverbesserung (DIZP) in Hannover. My health conditions got slightly better than the year before. Little adjustments where necessary, but nothing serious.
• And in August I went on a trip to Cuba with my friend Jenny. It was an interesting experience. And I have never been so glad before, that I got born in capitalism. Thank you, Cuba for teaching me this lesson. After 5 days I had enough and escaped on the next available connection to Bali!
• I found a beautiful wooden house and booked it for one month to recover from the disappointment about the musician day in Germany and the poverty that communism produces.
• And I started taking classes to learn Bahasa Indonesia.
• In September I took a scooter ride to the north of Bali. Tasting a lot of Balinese teas. It brought me to Bedugul, passing the volcanoes, the three lakes and to Medewi Beach, Singaraja and all the way to Kubu. On the way back I visited the impressive and well-hidden waterfall Agung.
• I had a fabulous time at Mahamustika Beach Inn and the landlord offered me to move to the Beach House, where I spent a wonderful time. He offered me to rent it long term, but we could not agree on the price.
• So I moved on to Double a House across the street where I learned, that I prefer a small practical apartment with room service much more than a complete two bedroom house, where I have to take care for everything myself. I am grateful that I learned this lesson before I signed the contract.
• End of September I went for a trip around the southern peninsula of Bali. Staying in Jimbaran and visiting Garuda Wisnu, the biggest statue in the southern hemisphere.
• Somehow I could not enjoy Bali anymore as much as I used to do it. And my father’s birthday was near. Plus I got some bad news about my business in Germany. The owner of the building, in which we ran our rehearsal studios, wanted to use a part of his property by himself. And I had the feeling I needed to be on site to clarify the situation. So, I decided to surprise him with a visit to Germany. And the surprise worked out! For my dad’s birthday and for me.
• My sister told me about the Lollslauf, a half marathon in my hometown next Saturday. I hesitated because I was not trained for it. But on the morning of the race, I went there, registered last minute and enjoyed the run to it’s fullest. It was the most relaxed one I ever ran, 2:14h!
• We informed some of our tenants that we are looking for them for new rehearsal studios. And that we expect, that have to move them by End of January 2019. Followed by a search marathon for other buildings and some negotiations with the building owner. We gained 3 Months! But still, there was a stressful time ahead.
• End of October I flew to Austin, TX to participate in a one-week business seminar from Rich Dad. Btw. his real name is Kieth Cunningham.
• I continued to Houston and from there back to Bali. On this connection, I “enjoyed” the longest flight I ever had: Houston – Taipei which took 16:30 hours! I was able to sleep a lot in a comfortable plane, so it did not appear to be so long to me. The airline did not want to take me on board because they did not accept my visa, which legally does not require an onward ticket. But after 2 h of negotiation with the Indonesian embassy, they decided to take me on board. Visa regulations are really a pain in the …
• In November after coming back to Bali I kept on searching for a new place to move the rehearsal studios. Hired some virtual assistants, qualifying a lot of buildings and coordinated them and visits to buildings.
• Further, I found a place to open a coworking space. And I started learning about regulations, rules, renovation cost, calculations, and concept development. I was very enthusiastic about it and invested a lot of time into the research. It was a lot of fun and I could use what I learned from Rich Dad about business.
• Beginning of December I received some good news from my landlord: We can use the space until the end of 2021. Which turned out into a bit of release from the stress. But our tenants did not feel certain about our rehearsal studios anymore. We got so many cancellations as never before. Luckily our waiting list was so big, that we were able to fill all free spaces. But it turned out into a quite challenging time for my manager on site. I called it an April fool because the April date got canceled. This kept me busy in December.
• Over Christmas and New Years I went for a trip to Ubud, Ahmed, Mt. Agung, Bedugul, Singaraja, and Gilimanuk. It was a wonderful road trip for almost 2 weeks.
• In January it was time to go for the next visa run. Because my visa only allows staying for up to 60 days. So I went to Manila, Philippines. From there I continued to Puerto Galera, Naples, Malay and to Iloilo City. All in all an almost American like eating culture. Only preprocessed food in the shops. Almost impossible to get a warm meal which is not deep fried.  And that results in an American shape of the people. I learned this is another country, in which I get homesick to Bali.
• In February I got back to Bali, and I enjoyed it, as almost never before! I moved to Lovina on the north coast and found a place called Dream Hill which became my office. A guesthouse with a very relaxed atmosphere, a restaurant on top of a rock with an amazing view over Lovina and the ocean.
• In March I received a call from the landlord of my rehearsal studios. And the same story as in October began for a second time. Once again they wanted to have our space for themselves and cancel our contract before the end of the agreed lease period. A lot of negotiations followed and we intensified once again the search for alternative buildings, without success.
• End of March I went for one week to a T. Harv Eker seminar to Singapore. Once again I had the feeling I need to be on site in Germany to clarify the situation with my studios. And instead of taking the flight back to Bali, I decided to book a return flight to Germany and a rental car for 3 weeks.
• When I tried to check in for my flight I wanted to join a friend to the gate, which was in a different terminal than my flight. So I used the boarding pass of my flight to Bali to get there. After saying goodbye, I wanted to continue to my terminal. But they did not let me get out of the security zone and the officer told me: “This is an arrestable offense, you are in serious trouble.” I thought that it was a misunderstanding. But they interviewed me for 3 hours. I missed my flight, lost all connections, and the rental car. At least I did not have to go into prison. But they took away my passport and told me to contact them the day later. Subsequently I had to book another night and the next day they told me to come to the police station and pick up my passport and a warning. Finally, I got around any fine, but I still do not understand what this rule is good for, apart from keeping civil servants busy.
• I booked another flight to Germany and a rental car. From Frankfurt, I went to Stuttgart to see my employee and to clarify the situation. Facing the situation I found out, this time is nothing left to negotiate anymore. In a quite depressed mood, I celebrated the birthday of my son and also mine. It seems that I have to close my business just before it will turn 10 years.
• But each ending equals a new start. So I feel that even if this is a difficult situation, that I am standing just in front of the next big breakthrough. I am curious about what is awaiting me in the next year.

Why isn’t that open today? Today is my “Feiertag”!

I am grateful for everything that took me out of my comfort zone.  Because it let me grow and gives me more strength for upcoming challenges.

Yes, I assume that was the best year of my life … so far … thank you, thank you, thank you!